James Franklin's image unlikely to take hit from Vanderbilt scandal

Coach's success, demeanor have won fans over, but how investigation plays out is key

Jul. 6, 2013

Vanderbilt Coach James Franklin's image has been enhanced by 15 wins and two bowl appearances in the past two seasons. And while it has some cracks because of several uncouth remarks, it is still viewed as positive in the eyes of most. / File / AP

Written by

Jeff Lockridge

The Tennessean

Image experts and media personalities contend that any hit football coach James Franklin’s image takes from the current off-field scandal at Vanderbilt should be minimal, provided forthcoming details don’t implicate mistakes on his part and there are no future embarrassments.

Four Vanderbilt football players have been dismissed from the team and suspended from school amid a sex-crimes investigation stemming from a June 23 on-campus incident.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab has been involved in the case, which could be taken to a grand jury, typically the situation in sexual-abuse cases.

“One of the things he has done in a relatively short time that he’s been here is he’s built up some good brand equity,” said Ronald Roberts, president/CEO of DVL Public Relations and Advertising in Nashville. “For the most part, people feel good about what he’s done. When you have good brand equity, people are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. So because of that, I don’t think this is going to have a dramatic impact on him unless something bigger shows up. I don’t think he takes a really negative hit on his reputation.”

Franklin has spent the past 31 months molding the self-image of a fiery competitor and salesman for the program, a caring coach with tunnel vision who relates to the fans while admittedly wanting to control everything within his grasp.

It is an image enhanced by 15 wins and two bowl appearances in the past two seasons, resurrecting a football program that had been largely irrelevant in the nation’s premier college football league, the Southeastern Conference.

And while his image has some cracks because of several foot-in-mouth remarks and rubbing some opposing fan bases the wrong way, it is still viewed as positive in the eyes of most people.

Brand equity, Roberts explained, goes beyond marketing slogans and tweets ending in #AnchorDown. It comes from a coach’s demeanor with fans and his interaction within the community when others are watching — and when they aren’t. Of course, that equity goes only so far if a coach isn’t winning games on Saturdays.

CBS Sports columnist and TV college football analyst Tony Barnhart said this case is unlikely to damage Franklin.

“Let’s face it: Vanderbilt has been living pretty much a charmed life,” Barnhart said. “All the stories to come out of Vanderbilt that all of us have written have been positive. This is the first negative hit.

“It’s a bad episode, but it’s the first episode. How you react and handle it is often what your image is going to be. … People will say, ‘That’s what you get for trying to play big-time football.’ I don’t buy that. That’s a sweeping generalization. Whether or not his reputation takes a hit will really be determined by what happens next.”

Image consultant Christopher Demers, whose brand management firm IDEA Brokerage is based in New York City, said Vanderbilt has handled things well by acting swiftly and notifying the police.

Demers, who worked with Jay-Z and helped broker sponsorship deals with Justin Timberlake and Allen Iverson, added that Franklin’s image appears to be safe and his silence to this point has been justified. But that soon may have to change.

“Once (details) become public ... he can’t just say nothing,” Demers said. “That would look really bad for him. Hopefully, he’ll be able to make the case that he’s engaged with his players and involved with them off the field.”

No impact on recruiting

Recruiting is one arena where any perceived hit to Franklin’s image will have no impact, according to 247Sports national recruiting director JC Shurburtt.

Vanderbilt’s nine commitments in its Class of 2014 have stood pat to this point, and Shurburtt said news of this investigation has generated no conversation at Nike’s 161-player, elite high school football camp known as The Opening this week in Oregon.

“Recruiting is about relationships,” he said. “If a kid has a great relationship with Vanderbilt’s staff and the staff can give a good explanation as to why this happened, it will have a very negligible impact.

“I’ve never seen this kind of thing have that dramatic of an impact. If you want an example, Penn State is recruiting in the top 20 nationally right now (ranked 18th on 247Sports.com). While they’re not signing everybody that they would like, the impact of the (Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal) on recruiting hasn’t really been all that much. It comes down to your coaching staff and whether you have good people in place.”

Concern about football 'family'

News of the investigation surfaced just as a Vanderbilt-hired survey firm is scheduled to start contacting alumni and season-ticket holders to gauge what stadium renovations would prompt people to make a greater financial commitment to watch the football team.

Some of Vanderbilt’s most notable donors and ardent supporters have been taken aback by what has transpired in the past week, although they remain firm in Franklin’s corner.

They include people on the 55-member Board of Trust — many of them prestigious donors and alumni located throughout the country — who form 10 committees and meet several times each year. The board works through Chancellor Nick Zeppos to oversee elements of the university while determining strategy, policies, hires and financial matters.

“It’s like part of a family,” said John Ingram, who has served on the Board of Trust and has been chairman of the capital campaign for the Vanderbilt athletics. “A family member acts badly and it reflects on everybody. James very much conducts his program like a big family. When a family member does something bad, it’s disappointing — very disappointing — and unfortunate.

“One thing I can say is Vanderbilt is not going to sweep anything under the rug. I don’t think there was any attempt to do that, nor should there ever be. At this point you address it straight ahead and look hard at what we’re doing to reinforce the message about behavior.

“I’m around the team a lot, and almost every meeting begins and ends with James talking about you’re your brother’s keeper and don’t do dumb things to embarrass yourself or the program. I think we’d all rather lose than have (players of poor character).”

Native Nashvillian and Vanderbilt booster George Armistead III added: “In my judgment, James, since he’s been at Vanderbilt, has been an absolute role model for everyone in his world.

“Frankly, I think this is the first situation where Vanderbilt has had to deal with this unfortunate, serious behavior by players. You see it at other schools all the time. Apparently, these days no school is immune to goofball behavior where some of these athletes don’t possess the discipline they should and get their schools in PR peril. I’m amazed that it happened here at Vanderbilt.”

How does Franklin’s image hold up when this is over? Maybe there is no change. Perhaps it depends on whether the dismissed players are charged and convicted of serious crimes.

“It’s virtually impossible to know long term what this means (to Franklin),” said longtime Nashville radio personality George Plaster, who anchors Sports Night on 102.5 The Game. “Short term, there is bound to be a little bit of a hit. You know other schools that deep down would privately love for Vanderbilt to be the SEC doormat again — they hope this is the incident that pushes them back to that.”

Plaster doesn’t know how big this story will get, but he is confident any image hit won’t deter universities from looking at Franklin when coaching vacancies arise.

“Anytime you win with the level of success that he’s had here, other people have got to notice,” he said. “The race to the wire is going to be how serious is this issue, what kind of stomach the Board of Trust has and do they have the confidence to say, ‘You keep doing what you’ve been doing.’

“Or do they rein in their recruiting process and (Franklin) says, ‘Wait a minute. I can’t win like this.’ ”